A New Beginning
by Ashkie Sage
Summary: Ashlynn Rider's life is turned upside down and around. Join her as her life is changed for the better or worse.
1. Preface

**Preface**:

Um hi, I guess I should start explaining why your even here. Well my name's Ashlynn Rider and well this is my story of sorrow and adventure. I was just a regular girl just like you until a terrible accident took away people that I love, more on that later. My life changed after that, in a way that I would have never expected thanks to some friends I made. Well I guess I should let you get to the real story now. We'll start at the very beginning, Warped Tour 2012.


	2. Chapter 1

"Hey, you ready for warped tour yet?" my friend called out from across the room. I gave her a no shit kind of look and she raised her hands up in defense. "Well I most certainly am," she declared after I didn't give her an answer. This isn't typically how conversations between my best friend and I go, but ever since I found out she was dating my ex boyfriend things have kind of been hostile.

Yeah it seems funny how my BEST FRIEND is dating my ex. A guy who I still liked and flirted with and who I was ready to get back together with if he ever wanted. Ever since then we just haven't really talked that much. Warped Tour was pretty much the only thing we ever talked about since we were both extremely excited about it. It was the biggest concert of the year and it was something that we were going to together, no boyfriends no nothing. That way we could have to most fun possible together and hopefully fix our broken bond. Or so I thought…

"You know I'm ready Cas, I've been ready since warped tour last year," I finally did answer her as I was going through my clothes. Who knew finding an outfit for warped would be this hard. Typically I would just wear a band tee and jeans but that's a no no for warped tour. We'd be outside in the heat and humidity all day long underneath the burning sun. Long pants and a black t-shirt, not gonna happen. "Oh hey Ash, um I have to tell you something," Cas hesitated to say. I gave her the sign to spit it out as I continued to rummage through my clothes. "Um well…Zak is going to warped tour with me," she mumbled under her breath.

My hands froze as I tried to comprehend what she just said. If I heard her correctly then my ex boyfriend, well her current boyfriend, was coming to warped tour with us which wasn't suppose to happen. Great there go my plans on fixing our broken bond. Now what the hell am I suppose to do during warped, cockblock them the entire day? When I didn't say or do anything she quickly blurted out, "I'm so sorry Ash, I had no idea he was going to come. He just told me today because he said he wanted to surprise me. Please don't let this affect our warped tour plans. We can still go together but Zak will just be with us as well. It'll be fine, like he won't even be there. Warped tour is our day."

"Its fine," I managed to get out, "I don't care. Zak can come if he wants. But just remember that it still is our day. We were suppose to hang out during warped, we made this plan at the end of last warped." She nodded and then made some sort of excuse to go home leaving me alone in my room. Whatever, I know she's probably going to go hang out with Zak anyways. Well this warped tour is going to suck. I'm gonna be by myself the entire time cause there is no way in hell I'm staying with those to lovebirds even if they actually wanted me with them.

I don't even understand why he chose her over him. I mean she's not really hat pretty or skinny for that matter. She's just blond and easy. Oh and she also dresses like a fuckin slut. What the fuck ever, I give up; I'm done with all of this bullshit! I need to just forget about them and focus on finding something to wear. Warped Tour is in two days and tomorrow I'm spending the day at universal.

The entire time I was searching for an outfit my mind kept going back to Cassie and Zak. How could she do that to me? I thought she was supposed to be my best friend; a best friend doesn't steal your boyfriend though. A real friend wouldn't even think about it. Well I don't really have any real friends. I can't even focus about on finding something to wear anymore; I need to get this off of my fucking mind.

Time to go blog about this shit, hopefully then it'll find leave my mind for good. Whatever I'm a sixteen year old girl and a total loner. I go to concerts rather then parties and I'd rather listen to music then watch Jersey fucking Shore. I'm not like most of the girls here, well all of them except one or two. No life here in Orlando, FL sucks for a kid like me. Its hot and sunny all the time, you have tourist everywhere, and everyone listens to fucking shitty rap music as well as shitty pop.

It's the worst at my school, Winchester Preparatory. A place full of rich preppy kids who feel the need to show off all the money that they have because it makes them "cooler." Now why am I at this hellhole? Well it's 5 mins away from my house and my mom is scared of public school. She's scared I'll get bullied or something. Ha, cause I'm totally not getting bullied in private school. Ironic right?

She wants me to have amazing friends and have a great high school experience but yet she stuck me in this hellhole. I can see how it is a great school, but not for people like me. Not for kids who don't want to do the IB program and have five hours of homework every night; kids who listen to rock and punk music and go to concerts every weekend. It's for rich smart kids who have never had to work for anything in their entire lives. Definitely not for the likes of me but yet I'm stuck here anyways.

Look at how pathetic I am. I'm sitting on the floor of my room by myself with no friends during summer break. No one making summer plans with me or even texting me. I was alone. There was no one there. Well I guess I could call Chris or maybe Zoie to see if they wanted to chill. Those two are pretty much my only friends.

I've known Chris since I was like negative two, as well like to say, and Zoie well I just met her freshmen year. She was wearing an iwrestledabearonce shirt at the school social thing so I went up and talked to her. We've been good friends ever since, going to concerts and doing stupid shit together. Like this one time we got this silly putty crap stuck up on her ceiling and wall and its still there to this day.

Chris is the reason I listen to the music that I do. He opened my eyes up to the music world and guided me to some great bands. Now we don't listen to all the same music because I branched out to other sub genres of rock whereas he typically just stayed with punk. But we do go to some fucking amazing punk rock shows. Like this one time we went and saw Face To Face together and we were the youngest people in the crowd. Everyone that was there couldn't believe we've ever heard of them/liked them so we got special treatment. Yeah that was an amazing show.

"ASHLEY!" my mother screamed as she barged into my room, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!" Oh lord here we go again, she's going to start another rant about something I "did wrong." Whenever she barges into my room like this it doesn't typically end well…

"What the fuck is wrong with you. I saw Cassie leave, did you do something wrong? It'd be just like you to fuck up a good friendship with a girl who's actually popular. You're such a screw up. That's why you have no friends you fuck everything up. Did you ever think that the reason no one likes you is because of the band you listen to and the way you dress? You look like your fucking emo or goth. Why can't you be more like Cassie? Huh? Why can't you act like every normal teenage girl out there? You should be at high school parties and hanging out with friends, not sitting in your room on your fucking computer or going to concerts every weekend. You are such a fucking screw up. You're going to grow up one day and be all alone. No friends, no family, no nothing. Oh and what about your hair? Get your goddamn bangs out of your face. I'm sick and tired of telling you this. One night I'm just going to come into your room and cut all of your goddamn hair off. Why can't you just be normal!" she shrieked before she exited my room.

I sat there completely stone-faced until she slammed the door shut then came the waterworks. Tears started to form in my eyes and roll down my face. No matter how many times she does it I will never get use to it. **Am I really a fuck up?** I posted on tumblr as tears flowed down my face. Tumblr and twitter were my places of comfort. I could post what I really wanted to say there and not be judged. Tumblr, more then twitter, was full of post about what was going on in my life. The backstage access to how my life really was.

As I refreshed the page I noticed I had a new message, **You're not a fuck up. Not in any way shape or form. You are an amazing person who is trying to survive in an environment not meant for her. Screw what other people say, listen to what your heart is telling you. Do whatever you want and fuck everyone else. You are you, anyone who doesn't like that will have to face my wrath. I will always be here for you –Anonyms **

My tears slowed down as I read that message. **Dear Anonyms, who are you? You're always there for me when I'm at my lowest and I would like to thank you for that. Reveal yourself to me?** I posted on my page. I need to know who this is and if I even know him or her. This person has been there for me through thick and thin and I'm very grateful for that. 

**You know who I am, I see you all the time. **What do they mean? How could I know them yet not. And if I really do know them how could they go on with their normal life and not tell me. Not help me… **Friend or foe?** I returned. I need to get to the bottom of this. **Friend, always a friend.**

I shut the computer screen after receiving Anonyms' message. I can't deal with that now. I can't deal with anything right now. I just wanna sleep and forget about all of this pain. Luckily it was 11pm so I wasn't really going to bed at a super early time.


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey sorry this chapter is pretty short, its just a filler one. **

* * *

Universal today…not like I even really absolutely want to go. I mean when you live close to it and go almost every weekend the rides get pretty boring. We basically just go there to hang out now. I was going to meet my friend Zoie there and probably end up just walking around, which is what happens every time.

The entire drive there I couldn't help but think about my anonymous "friend." I apparently know and see he or she every day. How can I know them yet not? And what happens if this person really isn't a friend but a foe who is going to use all of this against me. How can I trust them?

"Ashlynn? Hello? Earth to Ashlynn?" Zoie questioned. I shook my head and blinked rapidly. How long has she been here? "Oops sorry I was just thinking," I sighed, "Ready to go ride every single ride we possibly can?"

She just laughed as she shook her head at me because she fully knows that there is no way in hell we'll ride all the rides. Well ride any of them really. We typically went to universal just to talk and walk. Oh and to check out hot guys, haha. Cause you know that's just what we do.

"So how's life?" Zoie questioned as we began walking and talking.

"How do you think it is? It fucking sucks."

"Well I could have guessed that much, I mean my life sucks ass too. But what's really going on? Like your mom and crap."

"Its all just bullshit. She goes off on every little thing I do. I can never win; no matter what I do it's always the wrong thing. I'm never right in her eyes. She'd rather me be some Barbie doll cutout then who I actually am."

"That happens to all of us, remember when your mom went off on us that one night? Damn that was fucking scary. That side of your mom is extremely scary and I never want to see it again."

"Yeah I know, but anyways are you sure you aren't going to go to warped this year? It's going to fuckin amazing, I mean Pierce the Veil and Sleeping With Sirens are going to be there."

"Yeah I can't do it this year, I'm gonna be heading outta town tomorrow remember?"

"Well yeah I know but you can always post pone it so you can go to warped. Warped Tour only comes around once every summer and you can go on vacation any day of the week."

"Haha, I can't just delay a FAMILY vacation. Besides its not up to me."

"Whelp it was worth a try. I'll tell you all about it though."


	4. Chapter 3

_"I never tried too hard to get you ever tried to fall to catch you you'll never know who I really am,"_ My phone sang as my alarm went off. Finally it was the day of warped tour I thought as I leaped out of bed.

This was the day I'd been waiting for all your, the day when over a hundred bands would play in one day. The day where music listeners of the world come together to listen to their favorite bands play and discover new ones. I remember last year when I discovered Avion Roe and absolutely fell in love with them. They definitely became one of my top favorite bands and I will always remember them.

That's what I love about Warped Tour; they give unknown bands a chance. They bring in these big name bands as well as small unheard of bands that don't have a large fanbase. It gives these little bands a chance to expand their fanbase and a chance to play for a crowd of people that has never heard of them before. Warped Tour is doing it right.

I rose from my bed half asleep and staggered towards my bathroom. Gotta shower and get ready for Warped Tour, I have to look my best. I turned on my stereo as I hoped in the shower singing King For a Day. Pierce the Veil was going to be at Warped this year so I was finally going to be able to see them play. I was finally going to be able to see a bunch of my favorite bands like Pierce the Veil, Sleeping With Sirens, and Of Mice & Men. This year was definitely going to be better then last year.

I have to meet Cas in front of Publix in a hour so I need to get ready fast. She was going to drive me so I didn't have to drive all the way out there and waste gas. Which is great except it's going to be her, Zak, and I in the car. This should be just great. I still can't believe she's going out with him and that he's going to Warped. You know he used to hate all of this type of music before he dated me. When we were dating he listened to shitty rap and I introduced him to all the bands I loved. Well whining about this won't get me anywhere so I need to just forget about him and move on.

_What to wear, what to wear, _I thought to myself has I looked through the clothes in my drawers, _Well remember last year how it was really hot and you really wanted to go in the slip n slid but didn't have a bathing suit on? Yeah so lets go with a bathing suit, tank top, and shorts. Okay that looks good. Now hurry up Ashlynn you have ten minutes before your suppose to meet Cas. _

"Bye! I'm leaving now!" I screamed to whoever was awake as I walked out the door. "Have fun!" a voice called out from somewhere in the house. _Yeah this is gonna be just so great with Cas and Zak, _I thought to myself as I climbed into my Jeep. I'm just gonna have fun my way, they'll probably ditch me anyways so I'll be by myself.

Cas' mustang was sitting in the parking lot as I pulled in, her and Zak making out in the front seat. Whelp this is going to be just fucking great. I put on my best attempt at a cheerful smile as got into her car, "Hey Cas, are you excited yet? I can't fucking wait!" She revved the engine and sped off towards Warped as she said, "I've been ready for this year since Warped ended last year. I cannot wait any longer. Lets fucking get this show on the road."

The ride there actually wasn't that bad. The only reason being because we had turned the music up as load as it could go and were screaming the lyrics out the windows. We got some extremely weird looks from the people driving next to us, especially when we started dancing. Haha, something none of us should have been doing. The closer and closer we got to the venue the more and more excited we became. As we pulled into the parking lot we were so excited that we could have exploded from all the excitement.

This was my scene. It was full of the music kids, all the people whose lives were dedicated to music. It was full of people who listened to the same music as I did and really truly cared about it. This is where I belonged; this is where I felt like I could really be myself. Nothing mattered here except the music. Doesn't matter what race, sexuality, dress, etc. you were accepted here.

Now we all had the pre sale tickets so we could go in the "express" line, which seemed to be longer then the actual line. Nut its whatever we got to go inside first and that all that mattered. As we were standing in line waiting for the gates to open at ten Zak randomly ran off towards a couple of people and brought them over. It was Devon and his girlfriend Marisa, great another fucking couple.

The four of them would talk amongst themselves about "couple stuff" and pretend like I wasn't even there. I obviously wasn't welcomed amongst this group. Whatever, it didn't really matter anyways. As soon as it turned ten I was going inside the venue and far, far away from them. They've made it perfectly clear that I'm unwelcomed in this group and I'm not going to take it any longer. I'll just sit here on twitter until it's finally time to go in, we've only got twenty minutes to wait anyways.

Twitter was full of post about Warped. Bands were saying what stage they would be on and fans were freaking out about those bands. It was all the usual twitter chatter you'd expect on a day like this. The only tweet that caught my eye was the one from my favorite band Avion Roe. They are a local band from Dallas, TX that I fell in love with when they were known as Red Car Wire. They played Warped last year and it was amazing. Well the tweet that I saw said that they would be playing at my Warped Tour date! I couldn't believe this; I get to see my favorite band again! This time I'm going to head to their merch table and buy their CD plus a shirt.

People started cheering and screaming suddenly so I looked towards the gates to find them opened and people going inside. Well that twenty minutes went by really fast. I followed behind Cas, Zak, Devon, and Marisa as we walked into the venue. Almost as soon as we were inside the four of them took off in another direction talking amongst them. I knew this would happen, as soon as we would get inside I'd become invisible and forgotten about.

Whatever who needed them, they weren't really friends. As they walked off to some stage I headed over the time board to see what time my bands were playing. All of the bands I came to see were done before 5pm, which means I'd be stuck here for four hours just roaming with no one. Eh, I'll find something to do for four hours. Maybe I'll make some real friends or just hang out with some people. Off to go see Sleeping With Sirens first, I can't wait!


	5. Chapter 4

I'd been here for about two hours and I'd already seen some fucking amazing bands like Sleeping with Sirens, Of Mice & Men, and Peirce The Veil. The next band I was going to see was Blessthefall but they weren't on for another forty minutes or so, so I decided to go check out the merch around them. Ninety-five percent of my wardrobe was made up of band tees so this was a huge deal to me. Blessthefall had some pretty cool stuff but what caught my eye was the tent a row over, it was Avion Roe's.

I hurried over there to find the entire band sitting there just relaxing. I was finally going to be able to meet them! This was awesome. "Um hi there," I said as I walked up to the tent, "Can I have a shirt and a CD please?" Their merch guy jumped up at the sight of a customer and immediately said, "Of course you can. Its your lucky day to because its our lead singer, Evan's, twenty-fourth birthday so you can get a shirt and CD for fifteen dollars."

Well I guess it's my lucky day. I get a shirt and CD from one of my favorite bands for just fifteen dollars. "Oh and we'll throw in a poster. Would you like them to sign it?" the merch guy continued. I smiled brightly at him, "Yeah, that'd be great. Could you guys also sign my hat?"

This time Evan spoke as he grabbed my hat from hands, "Yeah no problem, have you ever even heard of us before? Oh and make sure you follow us on twitter." What? Did they really just asked that question, they have no idea how much I love them. Smiling I said, "You guys are my favorite band. I've been a fan ever since Red Car Wire and when I saw you at Warped last year I became an even bigger fan, if that's even possible. You guys are pretty much one of the reason why I even came to Warped Tour this year anyways. I'm a huge fan. You guys have actually tweeted and retweeted me a couple times on twitter as well."

They all looked at me with an amazed look on their faces completely speechless. Finally one of them said, "Are you serious? You were a fan when it was Red Car Wire? Evan did you hear that? This chick is amazing! What's your name by the way? On twitter as well."

"Ashlynn Ryder, and my twitter is LeAshAttack. It's great to finally meet you guys," I smiled.

"Evan Lester, nice to meet you too. Oh and I definitely recognize that twitter name. Blond hair is Sean Humphrey, but we just call him Drama. Next to him is Jordan Modro and coming up behind you is Josh Cutlip. Oh and this is Nick Shaffer our merch guy," Evan stated as he signed the poster they were giving me. All of them said how happy they were to meet me and so on.

"It's great to meet you all, I can't believe I finally am meeting you. What time do you guys play at anyways? I couldn't find your time and stage anywhere," I explained as they continued to sign.

"Oh we play at one fifteen at the ourstage, which is over to our left," Josh happily explained as he singed my hat, "Oh and we kinda took over your hat."

I shrugged my shoulders as I laughed, I didn't care if they took over my hat that's why I got it in the first place. We said goodbye for now since they had to go get ready to play and I promised them I'd be there. They even asked what my favorite song of there's was before I left, which has to mean that they're going to play it during their set.

I wonder what Cas is doing right now, if she even feels bad about ditching me for Zak. _Come one Ashlynn you need to just forget about her. She's not worth it and she's not even a good friend. Just stop thinking about her and have fun. You're at fucking warped tour for fucks sake. Go check out some music now! _My inner self was right, I need to just forget about her and have fun. Screw them, I don't need fake friends in my life. I pushed the thought of them out of my mind and just kept browsing through merch.

Pretty soon it was time to go listen to Avion Roe play and when I got over to the stage there was a group of about ten kids sitting there in front of the stage. As I walked up to the front of it the guys were just getting on and they were all smiling brightly at me. The first song they played was "Who I Am" and I sang along to every word as I took pictures of them with my canon.

The played some old song and new songs throughout their set and I was in heaven singing along and snapping pictures. It was so great. After they played two more songs Evan stopped and looked out at the crowd, "Hey there Orlando! What's up?" the crowd screamed their response, "That's good haha, well I hope you guys are having as much fun as we are even if it is hot as hell out here."

"It's hotter then Texas with all these humidity," Drama chimed in.

"I will agree with that," Evan laughed, "Okay so this next song out there is a new friend of ours absolute favorite. This one's for you Ashlynn." The biggest smile ever appeared on my face as Evan sang me "I'm Not Afraid To Die." This song is just so perfect and I love it. The rest of their set was amazing but Evan singing me "I'm Not Afraid To Die" was definitely the best part of it.

After their set was over I went over to the side of the stage to go talk to them. I hovered off in the back of the crowd so that everyone else could meet them since I already have. This time I was actually going to get a picture with them since I forgot to last time. "Do you need something?" a voice questioned next to me.

It was there merch guy, Nick. "Oh yeah I was just going to get a picture with them. I kinda forgot to do that earlier and I wanted to thank them for playing I'm Not Afraid To Die," I replied with a smile. Right as Nick said he'd take the picture for me someone hugged me from behind. I jumped a little, not expecting the hug, and looked up to find Josh standing over me. "Whatcha doing Ashlynn?" he asked.

"Picture and I really wanted to thank you guys for singing me my favorite song. You have no idea what that means to me," I said with a huge smile. They all smiled in return as we got in place for the photo. Once the photo was taken they had to leave but told me to come back to their merch tent whenever I wanted to so I said I would. I might have to take them up on that offer since it was so damn hot outside.

When I made it back over in the main area of the venue there was a huge group of fan girls running towards me all freaking out and stuff. I turned around to find Derek Sanders with his little girl in his arms walking by me. I just waved him and continued walking because I wasn't going to bug him when he was with his little girl. "Wait stop!" someone exclaimed from behind me.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" the mystery voice continued as I turned around to face whoever it was. It was Derek Sanders…The lead singer of Mayday Parade stopped me. "Oh um well yeah I've met you a couple times," I smiled.

"Wait do not tell me, were you at our last show at the House of Blues?" I nodded as he continued, "Did I scare the crap outta you?" I nodded again as he smiled, "I remember you now! I scared the crap out of you at our show, you were up in the box, and I snuck up behind you and screamed. Haha, how are you? Oh and what was your name again?"

"Ashlynn. Haha yeah, I constantly am turning around now because I'm paranoid that someone will do it again. I'm good though, its bloody hot out here though," I answered as fan girls were screaming his name.

"Ah, I remember your name now. I definitely agree with you on that, stop by our set though? We play in a couple minutes over on that stage right there. That's actually where I'm heading right now. You still love Black Cat right?"

"Yeah I do, still one of my all time favorites. I'll definitely be over there, that's where I was heading right now. I'll be there. Oh and your daughter is just adorable."

"Thanks, she's a sweetheart. Alrighty, I'll be looking for you in the crowd. I'll see you around Ashlynn."

"Alright, bye Derek. I'll be in the crowd."

Whelp, I can't believe he actually remembered me. The entire time we were talking all these fan girls were freaking out over the fact that I was talking to him. I don't know how someone could get used to that. Well after he walked away that fan girls started on me.

"How did you know him!"

"Can you introduce me to Derek!"

"You are so lucky that you know Derek."

"Are you I a band or something"

People were yelling left and right and my head was spinning. "Stop! I'm not in a band; I'm just a fan. I've met him like five times so I don't really know him. The last time I saw him he scared the shit outta me and it's hard to forget scaring someone half to death," I exclaimed as I walked towards the stage. I wasn't about to sit there any longer. There's nothing I'm more scared of than crazed fan girls, well except for clowns.

Mayday's set was really good except they haven't played Black Cat yet. Emphasis on the yet part because as soon as I thought that Derek said, "Now for our last song I need to bring up a friend out in the crowd. This next song is her favorite song so I wanted to ask, Ashlynn will you please do me the honors of coming up on stage and helping me sing Black Cat?"

I was frozen in place, Derek was looking start at me smiling as he said those words. I've never sung in front of anyone before, no one has ever heard me sing. I took a deep breath and quickly made my way towards the stage. "I've never sang in front of anyone before," I quickly told him as he pulled me up on stage.

"You'll be great, it's just like riding a bike," was his reply. Right, more like riding a bike on a tightrope. Okay well here goes nothing; you'll do great Ash. Just remember to breathe. Derek sang the first verse and then pointed towards me for the chorus. I took a deep breathe and sang, "You're like a black cat with a black back pack full of fireworks and you're gonna burn the city down right now whoa whoa. You're like a black cat with a black back pack full of fireworks and you're gonna burn the city down right now whoa whoa."

When the song was over everyone clapped and cheered and Derek leaned over to me, "See just like riding a bike. You did fantastic." I had the biggest smile on my face as I excited the stage behind them. That felt amazing, the energy coming of the crowd was just insane. I can understand why musicians love doing what they do now.


End file.
